Tissue paper suncatchers

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I love the way these tissue paper suncatchers look so vibrant in the sunshine. They’re very easy to make and even toddlers can make their own masterpiece. You’ll need a laminator to make this version, which you can buy: Cathedral A4 Laminator with Jam Release or your local print shops may offer the service.  Alternatively you could use sticky-backed plastic to hold the tissue paper in place.

Choose your favourite colours and create your design on the laminator pouch

Put your finished design through the laminator

You might like a Matisse inspired square design

Or you can add texture by scrunching the tissue paper

A heart shape would make a lovely present.

To make the heart shaped suncatcher, we arranged the tissue paper in the heart design on the pouch and then cut round the outline after it had been through the laminator machine.

Ever inventive, the girls have taken the suncatchers and turned them into stained glass windows in their story tent.

And if you’re enjoying creating with tissue paper, you might also like this flower craft.

happily shared with the Virtual Valentine’s Day Party

Holiday activities

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The school holidays are just a few weeks away! Whether you’re a  parent with children home from school, or a childminder with extra children to look after, it’s handy to have a store of ideas ready to entertain the family. Rather than spend a small fortune in theme parks or soft-play centres NurtureStore has lots of ideas to keep everyone busy throughout the holiday, come rain or shine. And with an emphasis on homemade and recycled fun, our ideas are environmentally friendly too.

If the sun is shining school holidays are much easier. Throw everyone out in the garden for a mini beast hunt or host a snail Olympics. Bringing indoor toys out into the garden can provide new play opportunities, such as making a dinosaur world or fairy garden.

If it’s raining you could try indoor camping, or how about turning your sofa into a pirate ship, complete with ship’s wheel and an ancient treasure map?

If you don’t mind a bit of mess our recipe for ice-cream play-dough is really easy to make and is great when you have a mixed age-group of children, as everyone can join in. We have simple baking recipes you could try too, including a delicious one for raisin oat cookies. Or how about doing something different with your veg and trying your hand at carrot printing?

If you have crafty kids why not put together a recycled ‘making box‘ this week, so they can get creative over the holiday? We have ideas for making dragons, castles, balloon puppets and more.

And if you really just need to chill, how about our flavoured popcorn and a movie, or even some child-friendly yoga?

The holidays are such a great opportunity to take time out from the usual school routine and let your children play. However you spend the week, I hope you and your kids have fun!

Have your say about the Play Planner!

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have your say!

Play Planner and a quick survey

Would you be so kind as to help me out this week and give me some feedback about NurtureStore and the Play Planner? Below are 10 {super} quick questions. Could you please fill them in and let me know who you are and what you like about the Play Planner. All feedback is very welcome and I hope to use it to make NurtureStore an even better resource for you. Thank you! Cathy

 Thank you for your feedback :: here’s the Play Planner

Monday’s child is… [Read more…]

C is for caterpillar

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I love child-led learning. When I’m helping a child learn a new skill I try to put them and their interests at the centre of any activity. Little is starting to be very interested in letters and writing and I’m always looking for ways to encourage her to explore these ideas. So when she discovered this beautiful green caterpillar in the garden we used it as a springboard to play.

She was wondering where the caterpillar’s head was and we were talking about the spiral shape it had made as it curled up. We grabbed some outdoor chalks and tried to copy the shape ourselves. It’s great for children to try making all sorts of marks – not just using paper and pencil, and not straightaway trying to write letters.

Then we talked about the word caterpillar and what sound came at the beginning – which lead us on to writing a ‘c’.

And also inspired the next letter for our touchy-feely alphabet: c is for caterpillar.

This week why not get some chalks and see what shapes you can make?

abc button

Balloon puppets

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Gloriana, Queen of Balloons

Please welcome Her Royal Highness, Gloriana, Queen of Balloons.

This is Big’s creation made this weekend from the balloon she got from the vet’s open day, and the contents of our craft box. The balloon came with a plastic stick attached so it’s perfect to hold upright and move, play, dance with. The features are simply fastened on with sticky tape. She’s holding up pretty well, three days later, so we may be in for a long reign (so long as the kitten doesn’t pop her).

Have you ever made balloon puppets?

(One word of caution is that young children should be supervised with balloons. It they do pop, the pieces of balloon can be very dangerous if swallowed.)

 

Water play: washing up

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washing up play Sometimes the simplest ideas turn out to be just the most fun. Little asked if she could do the washing up yesterday ‘like a grown-up’. Two minutes to set up, all for free, and it kept her busy for an hour. I think she enjoyed it so much because she was using ‘real’ adult things rather than ‘toys’: washing up liquid, our washing up bowl and one of ‘Mummy’s’ scrubbing pads.

As you can see we set her up outside so there was no need to worry about any splashes. However this has turned out to be so much fun, she’s been playing again today when it’s been rather chilly so she’s been in the kitchen. I put a big bath towel on the floor as a precautionary measure but she’s been very grown up and sensible so there’s hardly any spills.

I only wish I still found doing the dishes so much fun.

For more fun ideas check out our other kids role play ideas

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